Post-Brexit: Ireland is looking forward, Britain is looking back
Nostalgia for the past and resentment about the world were the deciding factors in Brexit vote
The consequences of a hard Brexit on Britain’s nearest neighbour, Ireland, have been largely ignored in Westminister. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire
A complete British withdrawal from the EU’s single market seems increasingly possible. Business organisations such as the CBI are openly expressing alarm about the prospect of a “hard” Brexit, the kind of rupture that would take Britain out of the single market and possibly even the customs union.
But largely ignored in Westminster and Britain more widely is that some of the most profound economic, political and constitutional consequences of a hard Brexit would be on Britain’s nearest neighbour, Ireland, and on British-Irish relations.